Chapter 5:

Ethernet

Introduction to Networks v6.0

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 Chapter 5 - Sections & Objectives
5.1 Ethernet Protocol
• Explain how the Ethernet sublayers are related to the frame fields.
• Describe the Ethernet MAC address.
5.2 LAN Switches
• Explain how a switch operates.
• Explain how a switch builds its MAC address table and forwards frames.
• Describe switch forwarding methods.
• Describe the types of port settings available for Layer 2 switches.

5.3 Address Resolution Protocol

• Compare the roles of the MAC address and the IP address.
• Describe the purpose of ARP.
• Explain how ARP requests impact network and host performance.

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 Ethernet Protocol
Ethernet Frame
 Ethernet Encapsulation
• Ethernet operates in the data link layer and the physical layer.
• Ethernet supports data bandwidths from 10Mbps through
100Gbps.
• Ethernet standards define both the Layer 2 protocols and the
Layer 1 technologies.

 MAC Sublayer
• MAC constitutes the lower sublayer of the data link layer.
• Responsible for Data encapsulation and Media access control.

 Ethernet Evolution
• Ethernet has been evolving since its creation in 1973.
• The Ethernet frame structure adds headers and trailers around the
Layer 3 PDU to encapsulate the message being sent.

 Ethernet Frame Fields

• The minimum Ethernet frame size is 64 bytes and the maximum is
1518 bytes.
• Frame smaller than the minimum or greater than the maximum are
dropped.
• Dropped frames are likely to be the result of collisions or other
unwanted signals and are therefore considered invalid.

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Ethernet Protocol
Ethernet Frame (Cont.)

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Ethernet Protocol
Ethernet MAC Addresses
 MAC Addresses and Hexadecimal
• MAC address is 48-bit long and expressed as 12
hexadecimal digits.

 MAC Addresses: Ethernet Identity

• IEEE requires a vendor to follow two simple rules:
1) Must use that vendor's assigned OUI as the first
three bytes.
2) All MAC addresses with the same OUI must be
assigned a unique value in the last three bytes.

 Frame Processing
• The NIC compares the destination MAC address in the
frame with the device’s physical MAC address stored in
RAM.
• If there is a match, the framed is passed up the OSI
layers.
• If there is no match, the device discards the frame.

 MAC Address Representations

• MAC addresses can be represented with colons,
dashes or dots and are case-insensitive.

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Ethernet Protocol
Ethernet MAC Addresses (Cont.)
 Unicast MAC Address
• Unique address used when a frame is sent from a single transmitting device to a single
destination device.
• The source MAC address must always be a unicast.

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Ethernet Protocol
Ethernet MAC Addresses (Cont.)
 Broadcast MAC Address
• Used to address all nodes in the segment.
• The destination MAC address is the address of FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF in hexadecimal (48
ones in binary).

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Ethernet Protocol
Ethernet MAC Addresses (Cont.)
 Multicast MAC Address
• Used to address a group of nodes in the segment.
• The multicast MAC address is a special value that begins with 01-00-5E in hexadecimal.
• The remaining portion of the multicast MAC address is created by converting the lower 23 bits of the IP
multicast group address into 6 hexadecimal characters.

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LAN Switches
The MAC Address Table
 Switch Fundamentals
• An Ethernet Switch is a Layer 2 device.
• It uses MAC addresses to make forwarding decisions.
• The MAC address table is sometimes referred to as a content addressable
memory (CAM) table.

 Learning MAC Addresses

• Switches dynamically build the CAM by monitoring source MACs.
• Every frame that enters a switch is checked for new addresses.
• The frame is forwarded based on the CAM.

 Filtering Frames
• Since the switch knows where to find a specific MAC address, it can filter the
frames to that port only.
• Filtering is not done is the destination MAC is not present in the CAM.

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LAN Switches
The MAC Address Table

As a switch receives
frames from different
devices, it is able to
populate its MAC address
table by examining the
source MAC address of
every frame.

When the switch’s MAC

address table contains the
destination MAC address,
it is able to filter the frame
and forward out a single
port.

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Frame Forwarding
Switch Forwarding Methods

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 LAN Switches
Switch Forwarding Methods
 Memory Buffering on Switches
• Port-based memory & Share memory

Port-based Memory Buffering

In port-based memory buffering, frames are stored in queues that are linked to specific incoming
and outgoing ports. A frame is transmitted to the outgoing port only when all the frames ahead of
it in the queue have been successfully transmitted. It is possible for a single frame to delay the
transmission of all the frames in memory because of a busy destination port. This delay occurs
even if the other frames could be transmitted to open destination ports.

Shared Memory Buffering

Shared memory buffering deposits all frames into a common memory buffer that all the ports on
the switch share. The amount of buffer memory required by a port is dynamically allocated. The
frames in the buffer are linked dynamically to the destination port. This allows the packet to be
received on one port and then transmitted on another port, without moving it to a different queue.

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LAN Switches
Switch Port Settings
 Duplex and Speed Settings
• Full-duplex – Both ends of the
connection can send and receive
simultaneously.
• Half-duplex – Only one end of the
connection can send at a time.
• A common cause of performance
issues on Ethernet links is when one
port on the link operates at half-
duplex and the other on full-duplex.

 Auto-MDX
• Detects the type of connection required
and configures the interface accordingly.
• Helps reducing configuration errors.

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 Address Resolution Protocol
MAC and IP
 The combination of MAC and IP
facilitate the End-to-End
communication.
 Layer 2 addresses are used to move
the frame within the local network
 Layer 3 addresses are used to move
the packets through remote
networks.
 Destination on Same Network
• Physical address (MAC address) is used for
Ethernet NIC to Ethernet NIC
communications on the same network.

 Destination on Remote Network

• Logical address (IP address) is used to send
the packet from the original source to the final
destination.

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 Address Resolution Protocol
ARP
 Introduction to ARP
• ARP allows the source to request the MAC address
of the destination.
• The request is based upon the layer 3 address of the
destination (known by the source).

 ARP Functions
• Resolving IPv4 addresses to MAC addresses
• Maintaining a table of mappings
• ARP uses ARP Request and ARP Reply to perform
its functions.

 Removing Entries from an ARP Table

• Entries are removed from the device’s ARP table
when its cache timer expires.
• Cache timers are OS dependent.
• ARP entries can be manually removed via
commands.

 ARP Tables
• On IOS: show ip arp
• On Windows PCs: arp -a

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 Address Resolution Protocol
ARP Issues
 ARP Broadcasts
• ARP requests can flood the local
segment.

 ARP Spoofing
• Attackers can respond to
requests and pretend to be
providers of services. Example:
default gateway

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 TAREA
• Realice las actividades propuestas por los temas
tratados

• Conteste el cuestionario (Quiz) , le permite

prepararse para el examen del capítulo

• Realice las prácticas programadas por los diferentes

temas en el capítulo, utilice el Packet Tracer

• Conteste el Cuestionario de Examen del Capítulo, que

será activado en la fecha establecida.

Ing. Oswaldo Basurto G. Mg.

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